Objectives

The main project objective is to provide suggestions on how to reduce the amount of overtime paid to the drivers by ensuring the yard waste and bulk waste routes are as efficient as possible. Listed below are several smaller objectives that will help the team reach the main objective.

 One objective is to convince the department to monitor the drivers’ locations more closely while the routes are being performed. According to the sponsor, the drivers do not follow all of their routes as they were designed. All of the trucks contain GPS software that shows historic data on where the truck has been. This should prevent the driver from stretching their route by taking the long way and also keep them to the designed route. It is tedious for the supervisor to constantly check the GPS so the drivers get away with it sometimes.

 Another objective is to identify the routes that are notorious for requiring overtime. The data provided to the group shows which days and months are responsible for the most overtime hours. Locating and analyzing these routes provides the group with a starting point on which routes to tackle first. By finding a solution for these routes, the customer and sponsor will both benefit. The sponsor will see savings in labor costs, while the customer will see better service levels.

 The final objective is to analyze the pickup process and see if the equipment is being used efficiently. There are times when the third dump truck remains idle when it may be needed elsewhere. The benefit of utilizing equipment effectively will help save the sponsor money.

4 2.1.2 Expected Benefits and Business Case

This section describes the benefits that will occur if the group successfully completes and implements this project.

 One project benefit is improved customer service to the residents of Tallahassee. Solid Waste Services receives complaints when the service is not up to customer standards.

These complaints negatively impact the city by ruining the trust between the city and its customers.

 Another benefit is that the city will be saving money as a result of the project. This will increase budget space allowing more money to be focused on improving other projects, either within the department or elsewhere within Tallahassee. The project will help ensure that the taxpayers’ money is being spent wisely and efficiently.

The main, long-term threat if the project is not completed, is that the city of Tallahassee will continue to lose money due to overtime. There is also a long-term opportunity to increase the customer satisfaction by making the service better. A short-term opportunity would be improving a route and instantly noticing savings. A short term threat is the same as the long-term threat. In Figure 2.1, the short-term threats and opportunities and long-term threats and opportunities are presented in a consolidated matrix.

5 Figure 2.1: Threats & Opportunities Matrix

2.1.3 Project Stakeholders

Reginald Ofuani is the general manager for Solid Waste Services. He is the sponsor for this project, but very little contact is made directly to him. Felica Ronay is the administrative assistant to Reginald Ofuani. She is a sponsor and responsible for facilitating communication between the group and Reginald Ofuani. Rod Hightower is the Operations Manager and the main contact for the group. He provides all of the information the group needs to complete the project and provides direction to keep the project in scope.

Anthony Marotta is the phase leader for the control phase. He is responsible for coordinating how the project is completed and directing the other members in the group. He is also accountable for setting up meetings with the sponsors, as well as gathering information required to establish a baseline metric for the project. For the report, Anthony worked on the abstract, introduction, project charter, measuring baseline performance, flow chart, and control section. Nathaly Paredes is responsible for recording meeting minutes for each meeting and uploading them to blackboard.

She worked on defining customer and technical requirements, the work breakdown structure, and

Short-term Threat

If the project is not completed, the city of Tallahassee will continue to lose

money due to overtime.

Short-term Opportunity

The shorter-term opportunity is the improvement of routes and instant

notice of savings on labor costs.

Long-term threat

The long-term threats are poor customer service and the city will continue to lose money if the project is

not completed.

Long-term Opportunity

Increased customer satsifaction by making the service better is a

long-term goal.

Threats &

Opportunities

6 fishbone diagram for the report. Kevin Peer is the webmaster, he is responsible for updating the team website as information is acquired. On the report, he worked on the business analysis, project progress, project evaluation, improvement section and conclusion.

Margaret Scheiner is a PhD candidate and teaching assistant working for the senior design class.

She provides assistance to the students of the class. Ryan Adams is a PhD student and teaching assistant for the senior design class. He aids students in completing their projects correctly. Both Margaret and Ryan are stakeholders and resources to students to answer any questions they may have throughout the year. Dr. Okenwa Okoli is the professor for the senior design class. He is available for questions, as well as mentoring the students on how to best complete their projects.

2.2 Approach 2.2.1 Scope

The group is executing a Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC) approach to completing the project. The project will provide an efficiency analysis on the bulk waste and yard waste operations for Solid Waste Services. It is specifically focused on residential operations and not commercial. The group received data from the City of Tallahassee on the bulk and yard waste operations and analyzed the data in the analyze phase. The route data includes tonnage, number of houses, location of the routes, route times, travel times, service times, route mileage, and amount of overtime. During the analyze phase, the group looked at each metric and try to locate areas where there are opportunities for improvement. From that analysis the group came up with the idea of changing the route sequence in the improve phase. The route sequence is the order the drivers hit each cluster of houses within a route. The group also looked at customer compliance system and a truck GPS auditing system and alternative for various route sequences. In the control phase

7 a calculations were done to see how much of an actual improvement rearranging the route sequence had the on routes.

The scope is subject to change, if necessary, and will be updated by the current phase leader. Each phase, the scope will be checked by the team to make sure that the work being done is inside of the defined scope. If the scope needs to be updated based on new findings discovered during the project, the team will take the findings to the sponsors to collaborate to establish a new scope.

2.2.2 Assumptions & Constraints Assumptions

The group has identified several "problem" days for Solid Waste Services. Problem days are days that are known for always requiring overtime. These days are blue Mondays, blue Tuesdays, red Thursdays, and red Fridays. The group is assuming that these days are the biggest cause for overtime.

Constraints

The major constraint of this project is that the customer is not allowed to see any changes in their service. If a customer normally gets their waste picked up on a Tuesday, they must continue to get their waste picked up on Tuesday. Routes cannot be altered unless they are shifted within the same day [1].

2.2.3 Deliverables

The group provided a report for the sponsor at the end of the semester illustrating all of the work done so far for each phase. In the analyze phase, the group provided the sponsor with the results from the worker reallocation table as well as ideas about the audit system, customer compliance, and rearranging of the route sequence. The

8 sponsor received data that backs up the reasons for the group suggestions to change the current process in the improvement phase. For the control phase, the group did calculations to prove that there will be an improvement with the changes that are to be implemented.

2.2.4 Milestones

The tasks completed during the define phase consisted of the following: contacting the sponsor, meeting with the sponsor, performing background research, getting the current routes from sponsor, looking at the current routes, going on a drive-along with the truck drivers, and defining and narrowing the scope of the project. Contacting and meeting with the sponsor is the first step necessary to define the scope, establish goals, and start communication between the team and the sponsor. Performing background research is necessary to understand what the project is about and what the project goals are. Gathering and looking at the current routes helps the team understand the scope and think of potential ways to solve the problem. Going on a drive-along helps the team see first-hand how the routes are completed. This helps the team define the scope and understand what needs to be improved. Lastly, defining and narrowing the scope allows the team to set achievable goals within the project. Without a defined, narrow scope, one cannot stay focused on the main project or achieve the goals the sponsor sets.

The major tasks completed during the measure phase consisted of the following: collecting route data: tonnage, overtime hours, and expected completion times, examining the route data in detail, maintaining communication with the sponsor, and starting the brainstorming process of analyzing the routes. The major tasks in the measure phase are critical in gathering baseline metrics for the project. In order for the group to make suggestions, the group needs to know how the process currently works. The tonnage, overtime hours, and expected completion times that were collected

9 give the team an understanding of how well the process is working, where the problem areas are, and how the team can provide metric-based suggestions. Maintaining communication with the sponsor will be important throughout all phases to ensure the team is working in the direction the sponsor wants. Starting the brainstorming process of analyzing the routes allows the group to get a head-start on the analyze phase. In addition, starting to analyze the data informs the team of whether or not they need to collect more data.

The major tasks completed for the analyze phase consisted of the following: identifying the addressable root causes for overtime, creating possible solutions to fix the root causes, maintaining communication with the sponsor. The major tasks in the analyze phase are critical in understanding what the problems are and the critical thinking behind creating valid solutions. Asking questions is important in having successful brainstorming sessions. Brainstorming sessions help yield possible solutions.

The major tasks that must be completed for the improve phase consist of the following: creating alternative routes and detailing how these solutions should be implemented. The major tasks in the improve phase are critical in making the process better. This is ultimately where the team will provide recommendations to the sponsor based on a culmination of the team’s findings in the previous phases. The team will select the best possible solutions from the analyze phase and move forward.

The major tasks that must be completed for the control phase consist of the following: ensuring everything the team completed was adequately documented, making sure the sponsor has everything the team did, making sure the transition of the work is done smoothly, and detailing how and when the process should be monitored and updated. The major tasks in the control phase

10 are critical in ensuring the process will be sustainable. It would be counterproductive to create something that cannot be implemented due to lack of documentation or improper transferring of documents. This stage will ensure the transition of everything the team did gets to the sponsor.

Figure 2.1 illustrates a simplified network diagram of the tasks in the define phase. Table 2.1 shows the activity list of the define phase. The figure and table illustrate the group’s timeline of the define phase. The critical path shows the minimum amount of time the project will take. The critical path of the define phase is highlighted in Figure 2.1 with bold arrows. It is calculated by adding all of the necessary steps to complete the project. An activity’s float is the amount of time the activity can wait without delaying the rest of the project. The critical path can be found by adding all of the activities with 0 float. Based on the estimations in Table 2.1, the define phase took a total of 29 days.

Figure 2.1: Define Phase Network Diagram

Meet

11

Contact Sponsor 7 days Immediately Immediately 0

Meet Sponsor Contact Sponsor 1 day After 7 days After 7 days 0 Perform Background Research Meet Sponsor 7 days After 8 days

After 15 days

7 days Get Current Routes Meet Sponsor 7 days After 8 days After 8 days 0 Go on Drive-Along Meet Sponsor 1 day After 8 days

After 21

Table 2.1: Define Phase Activity List

Figure 2.2 illustrates a simplified network diagram of the tasks in the measure phase. Table 2.2 shows the activity list of the measure phase. The figure and table illustrate the group’s timeline of the measure phase. The critical path shows the minimum amount of time the project will take. The critical path of the measure phase is highlighted in Figure 2.2 with bold arrows. It is calculated by adding all of the necessary steps to complete the project. An activity’s float is the amount of time the activity can wait without delaying the rest of the project. The critical path can be found by adding all of the activities with 0 float. Based on the estimations in Table 2.2, the measure phase took a total of 28 days.

12 Figure 2.2: Measure Phase Network Diagram

Activity Predecessor Duration

Earliest Start

Latest

Start Float

Collect Route Data Define Phase 14 days

After 29

Examine Route Data Collect Route Data 7 days

After 43

Table 2.2: Measure Phase Activity List

Figure 2.3 illustrates a simplified network diagram of the tasks in the analyze phase. Table 2.3 shows the activity list of the analyze phase. The figure and table illustrate the group’s timeline of the analyze phase. The critical path shows the minimum amount of time the project will take. The critical path of the analyze phase is highlighted in Figure 2.3 with bold arrows. It is calculated by adding all of the necessary steps to complete the project. An activity’s float is the amount of time

Examine

13 the activity can wait without delaying the rest of the project. The critical path can be found by adding all of the activities with 0 float. Based on the estimations in Table 2.3, the analyze phase took a total of 24 days.

Figure 2.3: Analyze Phase Network Diagram

Table 2.3: Analyze Phase Activity List

Figure 2.4 illustrates a simplified network diagram of the tasks in the improve phase. Table 2.4 shows the activity list of the improve phase. The figure and table illustrate the group’s timeline of the improve phase. The critical path shows the minimum amount of time the project will take. The critical path of the improve phase is highlighted in Figure 2.4 with bold arrows. It is calculated by adding all of the necessary steps to complete the project. An activity’s float is the amount of time

14 the activity can wait without delaying the rest of the project. The critical path can be found by adding all of the activities with 0 float. Based on the estimations in Table 2.4, the improve phase took a total of 21 days.

Figure 2.4: Improve Phase Network Diagram

Activity Predecessor Duration Earliest

Start

Latest Start

Float

Define Phase 29 days Immediately Immediately 0

Maintain Present to Sponsor Pick Key

Suggestions

7 days 124 days 131 days 7 days

Table 2.4: Improve Phase Activity List

Present

15 Figure 2.5 illustrates a simplified network diagram of the tasks in the control phase. Table 2.5 shows the activity list of the control phase. The figure and table illustrate the group’s timeline of the control phase. The critical path shows the minimum amount of time the project will take. The critical path of the improve phase is highlighted in Figure 2.5 with bold arrows. It is calculated by adding all of the necessary steps to complete the project. An activity’s float is the amount of time the activity can wait without delaying the rest of the project. The critical path can be found by adding all of the activities with 0 float. Based on the estimations in Table 2.5, the control phase took a total of 14 days.

Figure 2.5: Control Phase Network Diagram

Ensure Smooth Transition Document

Everything

Maintain Communication

w/ Sponsor

Critical Path

16

Activity Predecessor Duration Earliest

Start

Latest Start

Float

Define Phase 29 days Immediately Immediately 0

Maintain Communication Present to Sponsor Pick Key

Suggestions

7 days 124 days 131 days 7 days Control

Phase

Document Everything Pick Key Suggestions

14 days 124 days 138 days 0 Ensure Smooth Transition Document

Everything,

Table 2.5: Control Phase Activity List

Table 2.6: Project Activity List

17 Figure 2.6: Project Network Diagram

Figure 2.6 and Table 2.6 illustrate the timeline for the entire project. The Critical Path shows the minimum amount of time the project will take. The Critical Path can be followed by the red, bold arrows in Figure 2.6. It can also be calculated by adding the duration of activities with 0 float.

Based on these estimations, the entire project will take a total of 145 days.

Figure 2.7 illustrates a simplified Gantt chart for the entire project. The purpose of a Gantt chart is to show when activities start and how long they will take. One simply follows the first task to its finish and then follows the other activities. It helps illuminate the schedule the team must follow to achieve the set goals. It can also be seen below that the project took a minimum of 145 days based on the projected activity time lengths. The team expects at the worst case scenario, the project will take a maximum of 160 days based on a 10% estimation error. The 160 days estimation was within the timeline of finishing the project successfully before the end of the semester. The team completed the project on schedule.

Measure

Analyze Phase Improve Phase

Control Phase Document

Everything

18 Figure 2.7: Project Gantt Chart

2.25 Budget / Bill of Materials

The project requires each team member to use their analytical skills and industrial engineering tools they learned in their coursework to address the efficiency of the yard and bulk waste routes of the Solid Waste Services. As the project progresses, the team will learn what potential money

The project requires each team member to use their analytical skills and industrial engineering tools they learned in their coursework to address the efficiency of the yard and bulk waste routes of the Solid Waste Services. As the project progresses, the team will learn what potential money